Benthic ecosystems are ecological systems associated with the bottom substrates of aquatic environments, including marine, estuarine, and freshwater habitats, where organisms inhabit or interact with sediments, hardgrounds, or biogenic structures. They encompass diverse communities such as infauna, epifauna, demersal fishes, microphytobenthos, and benthic microbial assemblages that mediate key biogeochemical processes, including organic matter remineralization, nutrient regeneration, and sediment–water fluxes. Benthic ecosystems are structured by gradients in depth, hydrodynamics, sedimentology, oxygen availability, and resource inputs, and they play critical roles in carbon cycling, secondary production, habitat provision, and the coupling of pelagic and sedimentary processes within broader aquatic food webs and ecosystem functioning.
In a remote part of Antarctica's western Weddell Sea, an area once hidden beneath a 200-meter-thick ice shelf, scientists have uncovered a new and unusual phenomenon: extensively maintained fish nesting grounds arranged in ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 29, 2025
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Underneath the ocean's surface lies a vast and ancient world. As demand for sustainable technologies increases, attention is shifting deep beneath the waves.
Ecology
Oct 23, 2025
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63
A series of submersible surveys to nearly 10 kilometers in the deepest parts of Japan's ocean trenches have revealed seafloor biodiversity is shaped by depth, food supply, seismic activity and the seafloor's structure.
Plants & Animals
Oct 7, 2025
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31
An enormous but poorly understood region of the global ocean—referred to as the abyssal benthic boundary layer—lies a few meters above the seafloor and has only been sampled a handful of times. A study by oceanographers at ...
Ecology
Oct 2, 2025
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26
A new study has uncovered the Levant Basin as one of the world's most concentrated graveyards for plastic packaging and the mechanisms that help the plastic sink down to the seafloor.
Earth Sciences
Sep 8, 2025
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95
The Japanese mud shrimp, Upogebia major, constructs burrows that can reach two meters deep into the sandy shores of East Asia and Eastern Russia. The size and Y-shape of these double-entrance burrows make them appealing to ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 27, 2025
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29
Sea cucumbers (Apostichopus japonicus) have been slowly disappearing from ocean floors over the last few decades, mostly due to overfishing for food and medicinal purposes. Despite their name, sea cucumbers are aquatic animals ...
NOAA-supported scientists announced today that this year's Gulf of Mexico "dead zone"—an area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and marine life—is approximately 4,402 square miles, 21% smaller than estimates from early ...
Environment
Aug 1, 2025
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34
A Chinese submersible has discovered thousands of worms and mollusks nearly 10 kilometers (six miles) below sea level in the Mariana Trench, the deepest colony of creatures ever observed, a study revealed on Wednesday.
Plants & Animals
Jul 30, 2025
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397
Large surface waves produced by powerboats are a mainstay for recreational watersports. A new study from the University of Minnesota shows that beneath the surface, factors such as propeller thrust and other types of waves ...
Ecology
Jul 29, 2025
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